Danksagmüller_Ruf Duo

The cooperation between Bernd Ruf and Franz Danksagmüller, two colleagues from the Musikhochschule Lübeck, began in Buxtehude in 2007. They developed the concert project bux21: “Comprovisations” on the works of Buxtehude, Tunder, Bach and Händel, with the idea of enabling listeners to experience the effect of the music of past eras in the present. They use such methods as improvisation, recomposition, historical performance practice, elements from New Music and live electronic music. This allows them to approach the original score, dust off the patina of the past, reveal its core and reassemble it anew. The result is a fascinating tonal distillate, which effectively dissolves epochal thinking.  

 

Franz Danksagmüller is an internationally sought-after organist, who has become especially well known for his own compositions, his unusual treatments of great organ works using live electronics and his unparalleled improvisations. He has worked intensively with electronic music for many years, from experimental electronics to pop, club music and film music. He studied sacred music, organ, composition, electronic music and music technology. In 1994 he was awarded the achievement prize of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research and he has won prizes at many international competitions (including the ION, Nürnberg). He worked as a lecturer at the Konservatorium für Kirchenmusik in Linz, at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna and has been Professor of Improvisation at the Musikhochschule Lübeck since 2005. His compositions include chamber music, music for choir, organ and electronic music, as well as film and theatre music.

 

Bernd Ruf is considered one of the most interesting personalities in the field of classical crossover. The 2002 Grammy nominee attracts attention again and again for his cross-border projects and his encounters with musicians from different cultural circles. He has developed special classical programmes with African, Mongolian and Latin American musicians, as well as jazz and rock musicians. Bernd Ruf has directed the ORF Radiosinfonieorchester of Vienna, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Ithaca/New York, and has worked alongside Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), Joe Lovano and Randy Brecker. At the Händel-Festspiele in Halle, he developed and leads the annual concert evening, Bridges to the Classics. As a clarinettist he plays with bandoneon master Raul Jaurena. Since 2004 he has been Professor of Popular Music, Jazz and World Music at the Musikhochschule Lübeck.